Although it is not as likely to come into contact with poison ivy during the winter months, particullarly where it snows it is still possible to contract "poison ivy" or rather the allergic reaction associated with it during the winter. All it takes is for the sap (urushiol - the component that causes the allergic reaction) that runs all through the the plant to make contact with your skin. If you walk through it even once it has died out, burn it (leaf piles or burning brush) or come into contact with anything this oil may have been previously deposited on you may well end up with a case of poison ivy. You can even get it from your dog if you pet him and he previously ran through it. Iíve had it numerous times and know how miserable it can be and how easily it can spread.Poison ivy identification is often summed up with the maxim, "Leaves of three, let it be!" Also note the notch on one side of each leaf which is also a good identifier of poison ivy.Thatís poison ivy, the "hairs" being the vinesí aerial roots. As you can see in this picture of a poison ivy vine climbing a tree, the vine can cling so tightly to the trunk of a tree as to seem a part of it. Itís only the aerial roots that give the vine away in this picture.

When I look at the items on supermarket shelves I see a scam. All these products are laden with poisons that have severe effects on brain function and the bodies immune system.

Four years ago I stopped purchacing any product whose ingredients are specified by numbers such as colour 120b, enhancer 621, preservative 220 or any numerically expressed substance and in my personal view these lables should read poison 666.

My beautiful missus and I have not even had a slight cold in these past four years since desisting partaking of these chemicals and by my own experience I can reveal they are in fact poisonous.

The food industry meets the pharmasutical industry where these substances are made and vast profits are made at the detriment of world health.